On April 4 and 5, the Archdiocese of Portland and Catholic Charities USA organized a Regional Parish Social Ministry Training in Tualatin, Oregon. The theme of the encounter was “Opening a Horizon of Hope: Transformed by Christ to Love All”. Numerous Vincentians from Oregon, Washington and Idaho attended and enjoyed lectures by Sheila Gilbert, our National Council President, Candy Hill of Catholic Charities, Joan Rosenhauer of CRS, among others.

Here are comments and impressions from some of the Vincentians, who attended:

From Maureen Sloan, VOP, St Helens, Oregon

This ranks as one of the most inspiring, meaningful, and practical series of sessions I can ever remember attending. All the presenters I heard were excellent and they raised the consciousness of us all regarding Catholic social teaching and how our work should reflect these values.

Sheila Gilbert spoke on the topic of Poverty and Economic Inequality. She challenged us to see how the poor - the people we serve - are caught in a web of stress and chaos, which often leave them with few good choices. Each day there is a new crisis - water bill one day, electric the next. We need to understand, for example, why they barter their food stamps for other goods or services that they need. We need to bring hope, not just food, money, etc. Even if we have no material goods to share, we can walk with them: God is there, and we are there, for them.

She talked about systemic change as a way we can think outside the box and try to bring about some meaningful change to those who come to us for assistance. It gave me something to think about - not that we have to stop doing what we do, but that in some cases we could do more, and actually move a family out of poverty. For instance, temporary poverty, such as job loss, seeking a first job, etc. may require our concentrated assistance for several months, but at the end, we have an individual, or family, who are no longer in poverty, and can make their own way in the world.

Sheila Gilbert talking to a meeting participant (Photo by Debbie Fisher) Another session gave us advice on forming a community: Community needs communion, and in church, we already have communion! Community is an illumination of Communion; Communion is the equalizer of the diversity among the multitude of the Church. This speaker is a community organizer, and led us through the steps necessary to form a community to achieve a particular purpose. In the same session, a parish priest explained how his new parish formed a community in the years before their church was built. One decision they made - to set aside 5 per cent of every collection for the poor - allowed them to build, furnish, and then operate a food pantry on the parish land, before their church was even built.

In addition, there were displays from the sponsoring agencies, and an opportunity to purchase free trade items including wonderful handcrafted items, chocolate, and coffee from Equal Exchange, who work with Catholic Relief Services to ensure a fair wage to those bringing these goods to market.

From Kathy Iberle, Vancouver, WA

I attended the Parish Social Ministry Gathering for the Portland/Seattle area on 4/5/2014 in Tualatin OR. There were workshops and keynotes on Friday evening and all day Saturday, attended by about 150 people, mostly from the Portland area.

Our National President, Sheila Gilbert, addressed the cycle of poverty and the difference between situational and generational poverty, and other speakers shared insights on collaborating with other organizations and on involving youth.

My biggest take-away came from Candy Hill, Executive Vice President for Social Policy and External Affairs for Catholic Charities USA, who spoke about how our government programs deal with poverty. Ms. Hill pointed out that poverty can be changed. The 50-year-old War on Poverty initially cut the poverty rate in the U.S. nearly in half (though the rate has since risen again). The War on Poverty also vastly reduced abject poverty such as outright malnutrition.

However, the War on Poverty combined with changes since 1964 have resulted in a “system” which can easily trap people in poverty. Once a family is dependent on government assistance, a small increase in income disqualifies the family for large amounts of aid, making it impractical to get out of poverty gradually. Instead, a sudden dramatic jump in income is necessary, larger than that possible with part-time minimum-wage work. Job-training programs, which used to make these jumps possible, have mostly been eliminated in recent years, and living-wage jobs are scarcer than ever.

This dynamic was an eye-opener for me. I was encouraged to hear that ten major U.S. non-profits (including both Catholic Charities and St. Vincent de Paul) who recently convened for a Poverty Summit agreed that this dynamic is a major problem, along with the Cycle of Poverty we’ve been discussing in St. Vincent de Paul. I’m hoping we will soon hear more from these organizations about lobbying or legislation or programs to somehow change this situation. This would be a great place for Voice of the Poor to be involved.

From Stan Miller, Portland, OR

I did attend the Parish Social Ministry Training on Saturday and participated in the workshop entitled "Poverty & Economic Inequality" which Sheila co-presented along with Candy Hill, Executive Vice-President of Catholic Charities. Sheila, within the framework of Systemic Change, focused on how group mission can be modified to include activities, which address a wider range of client needs. Candy provided info on the role of advocacy in addressing issues of poverty. About a third of the participants in that particular workshop were Vincentians. The focus for the day included a nice blend of organizing for Social Action at the parish level, which included some ideas and approaches for inclusion and plurality, plus ideas and factual info regarding poverty and economic inequality. The general context for the day was putting Catholic Social Teaching into action. The blend of Vincentians, Catholic Charities staff, and Social Action groups from around the Northwest made for a nice mix of ideas and experiences.